West Ham and QPR were keen on signing the Togolese forward and he was reportedly on the verge of joining the Hammers until Spurs chairman Daniel Levy blocked the transfer.

Pochettino confirmed Adebayor is fit to face his old club Arsenal in the north London derby on Saturday and backed his under fire forward to improve his form.

"We are happy that he stays here because he's a very important player," said Pochettino.

"We need to provide him the tools to help him improve his game. We try to push them and train in a good way. After, when we have the opportunity to play him, I have confidence in him, like every other player.

"When you play with confidence it's better than playing with doubt. We need to analyse the past and it was difficult for him to recover the confidence and his best level for him to compete.